Daily Links 4-14-14

Here's a roundup of links to help you start the week of right. In today's edition: the difference between successful and unsuccessful people, the man who stumbled on Hell, the idolatry of modesty, and more.

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Here's an interesting list of 16 differences between successful and unsuccessful people. Lots of good advice in this post. (Hat tip: Neatorama)

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The amazing history of the Choose Your Own Adventure books.

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Increasingly, folks are having issues with food. Here's some useful advice on how to determine whether foods are making you sick.

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The headline says it all: the man who stumbled on Hell. The true story of Lieutenant John Randall, the first Allied soldier to arrive at Bergen-Belsen. (Warning: graphic and disturbing images in the article)

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15 things we have to explain about Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama.

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The top 10 words that will help you win at Scrabble. (Hat tip: Book Riot)

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How should Christians deal with the issue of modesty? We should be careful not to make modesty into an idol:

Because promiscuity is so prevalent today, we in the Church have reacted by elevating modesty to unhealthy proportions. We jump too quickly into behavior modification and don’t realize that most of our modesty campaigns are actually borderline legalism. 

One rule in particular that “Christian” schools, universities and clubs like to enforce is the “skirt test.” It usually involves the woman getting on her knees to see if the skirt touches the ground, which if it does, it’s deemed acceptable.

My question though is what are we doing in that moment? Is the gospel being exalted, or are we heaping shame and condemnation on them? 

The fact that she is on her knees for the test couldn’t be more symbolic of submission, power, shame and guilt. The trouble, however, is that while modesty standards are set up to not make women’s bodies an object, it is in fact doing that very thing. 

Highlighting the girl’s dress in front of everyone, and telling her she should dress a certain way because she doesn’t want “to make the men stumble” is simply making her an object.

In the Body, we need to realize using men’s sin and lust issues as the reason why a woman should dress a certain way is actually making her just as much an object than if she were to dress promiscuously.

Read the whole thing.

Daily Links 12-11-13

A daily roundup of interesting things found on the web. In today's edition: two perspectives on preventing an affair, ghostwriters, pastors who write books, thoughts on modesty, and more.

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Two different perspectives on preventing an affair. First, Tim Challies shares some thoughts from a recent conference. Then the Christian Pundit weighs in with a female's perspective. Both of them make an important point: as with any other temptation, it is important to be proactive in dealing with sin. Thus it is best to have a strategy for dealing with temptation when it arises. (Related recommended resource: Hedges by Jerry Jenkins).

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This is an interesting infographic:



Source: TopMastersInEducation.com

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This is an interesting take on modesty and an attempt to debunk some of the myths surrounding it. I'm always fascinated to hear a woman's perspective on this issue.

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Aaron Armstrong shares a few thoughts on the dangers of ghostwriting. I was not aware how common a practice this is in evangelical circles. In a related post, Kevin DeYoung has a few words for pastors who write. Two quotes worth highlighting:

There is nothing wrong with being a writer first, but that’s simply not the calling of a pastor. I need to be a faithful preacher and a caring shepherd before I am a good writer. I’m very fortunate to have a church that values study and supports me in my writing. But I owe it to them, and to my calling as a pastor, to make sure that I do not become an author who pastors a church on the side.

Agreed. I wonder about pastors who are prolific writers and how they can manage to churn out books and shepherd a church at the same time.

Then there is this:

Whether in sermons or in print, it’s not okay for pastors to take credit for something that is not theirs. Granted, the lines can be blurry. But that doesn’t mean the line doesn’t exist. And just because it feels like the sin of sloth more than the sin of theft doesn’t make it less of an error.

Having personally encountered this situation I can tell you that this is a huge problem. Our churches need to be holding our pastors accountable to prepare their own sermons.

Advice from Fathers to Sons: How to Look at Women

There is so much written today on modesty and how men should view women. Unfortunately much of that advice, while well intended, is simply wrong. But this article is probably one of the best I have read on the subject in a long, long time. An excerpt:

A lot of people will try and tell you that a woman should watch how she dresses so she doesn’t tempt you to look at her wrongly.  Here is what I will tell you.  It is a woman’s responsibility to dress herself in the morning.  It is your responsibility to look at her like a human being regardless of what she is wearing. 

The whole thing is worth reading. And if you are a dad who has a son, take the time to have the conversation that this article recommends. If we expect men to treat our daughters with respect then we need to do a better job of training our sons how to properly treat our daughters.

Friday Tweet Recap 8-2-13

Here's a roundup of links of interest from my Twitter feed from the past week for your weekend enjoyment:

The U. K. is taking steps to block pornography on the Internet. Should the U. S. do the same?

Last week I proposed stiffer penalties for PED use in baseball. According to this article, some players are on board with the idea.

A heartwarming profile of life in the village of Cooperstown.

Modesty is the new sexy. It's not about wardrobe. "Modesty has to flow from the wellspring of our selves."

This is a great story: A golfer withdraws from a tournament that he's leading forfeiting a potential $1 million dollar payday to be with his wife who is giving birth.

Why guys love Kate Middleton. (Hint: it's not just because she's attractive)

Think you couldn't homeschool? Read this confession of a reluctant homeschool mom.

This is a useful article: An Introvert's Guide to Introverts.

More on Introverts: Justin Lathrop reviews Susan Cain's excellent book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking and makes some good points on why introverts make great leaders. I'm just about finished reading Cain's book and it is a terrific read.

Among CIA museum’s prizes, an American love letter on Hitler’s stationery.

This is cool: A one sentence summary of each of Screwtape's letters.

It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World - The Greatest Slapstick Comedy Ever? You bet!

If you're reading this, it's already too late. 

That's it. Have a great weekend.

Friday Tweet Recap

It's Friday and that means another recap of articles that I shared on Twitter this week that caught my attention.

Modesty is an issue that has worked its way back into the public discussion. Most of the time when we talk about modesty we discuss it in the context of what women wear. But there is another side of modesty that is worth examining. Meanwhile, an actress turned designer caused quite a stir when some of her comments regarding modesty went viral.

I'm sure that if I put some of these time management principles into practice I would be a lot more productive. Seems like I spend more time reading stuff like this than implementing it.

One of my favorite blogs to read is Art of Manliness and it seems like every week there are multiple posts I could share. The highlight of this week is this post on character, its 3 true qualities and how to develop it

This really struck a chord for me. I can really relate to this post on how to be social as an introvert.

It pays to be widely read. Here's a guide to reading the Christian classics.

I suppose we are long past the point where we can expect media to be unbiased. But the lengths they will go to in advocating a position are downright shameful as we saw this week.

Constitutional law alert: an actual Third Amendment case and what it could mean to you. It will be fascinating to see how this one turns out.

Does God give you more than you can handle? The answer is, of course, yes. That's the point.

That's it. Have a great weekend!

Modesty and Purity

The other day I was in the grocery store with my youngest daughter (who is 9). As we passed by the magazines she asked me a question that totally floored me: "Don't you think people have better things to do than look at each others' body parts?"

With her simple question, she had hit upon one of the things that is so wrong with our society today: we are a sexualized culture that no longer sees modesty (or purity, for that matter) as something to be valued.

I wish I could take credit for a really snappy comeback to her question but I was caught completely off guard and didn't know what to say.

Her question, however, got me thinking onto the subject of modesty.

As a father of two girls, I want my daughters to grow up understanding the importance of dressing modestly. But I also want them to understand that it's about a whole lot more than not showing off their bodies. Modesty is part of living a life in pursuit of purity. Too often we don't frame a discussion about modesty this way. Instead, we define modesty as adhering to a particular style of dress and setting up rules to follow in how we are to appear in public. It's important, however, that our daughers understand that dressing modestly is part of keeping themselves and others pure.

As Joshua Harris says so well in his incredible book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, (Dads - do yourself a favor and read this book with your teenagers) purity is a direction, not a destination. Rather than drawing a line in the sand and say we're not going to cross it but moving as close to the line as possible is not pursuing purity. Pursuing purity demands that we flee from temptation (even those magazines in the store that we shouldn't be looking at). Teaching our kids this lesson can be one of the greatest legacies we can leave as Dads.

Note: This post originally appeared in 2006.

Challenges of Raising Girls

It's tough to be a parent of daughters these days when the culture is doing everything it can to undermine fundamental values that parents are trying to instill in their kids. Consider two recent examples:

A recent Tide commercial involved a teenage girl getting ready to go out on a date and wanting to wear a skirt that Dad thinks is immodest. Dad wipes his dirty hands on the skirt in the hopes of sabotaging her wardrobe choices for the evening. But Mom comes to the rescue washing the skirt in Tide so that the daughter can wear it out on the date. As Kathryn Jean Lopez points out, it's time for parents to step up to protect their kids. The main problem with this commercial is that Dad really knew best but Mom decided to undermine him and let her daughter go out in the inappropriate outfit.

Another story comes from Abercrombie and Fitch. Their latest marketing ploy is to offer push up bras for grade school girls.  (Hat tip to Ed Morrissey) It's no great surprise that Ambercrombie and Fitch would be behind something like this since they have been selling inappropriate clothing and invoking soft porn in their catalogs and advertisements.

The question is, of course, why any parent with any sense would buy their kids clothes from that store at all.

It's tough these days in our over-sexualized culture to protect our daughters and help them make smart choices not just about the clothes they wear but many other things too. It's our job as dads to protect our daughters even if that means protecting them from themselves.

One final thought: when my daughters were younger (they are both teenagers now) we employed what we called the "touchdown test" to determine whether a top was appropriate. I would have them raise their arms above their heads (the referee's touchdown signal) to see whether a top was long enough to cover the belly. They now are able to make those decisions themselves and will often tell me before I have to tell them that a top is too small.